This invention relates to tools; and more particularly, to a wrench for use in opening and closing gas cylinders of various sizes and with different valve wheel or valve stem constructions.
Gas cylinders or tanks are used in many environments, in hospitals and laboratories, and to some extent in people""s homes. Industrial cylinders used in the former environments contain many types of gases some of which are extremely dangerous. Medical cylinders used in a person""s home or a custodial environment (a nursing or extended care facility) most often are (E, MC, or MB) type cylinders filled with oxygen to assist someone""s breathing.
Regardless of the environment, there are problems associated with each type of usage. In the hospital/laboratory setting, the gas cylinders are very tightly closed so to avoid any leakage prior to use. Such cylinders are difficult to open and usually cannot be opened by hand. If no tool is available, as sometimes happens, then the user is stymied until a tool is located. Once a tool is located, then the problem is one of making sure not to break the stem of the valve by which the cylinder is opened and closed. Typically the tool is only used to open the cylinder with the cylinder then subsequently being closed by hand.
In home settings, the cylinders are often connected to tubing by which oxygen, when the tank is opened, will flow into a mask (or directly into a patient""s nostrils) to enhance the person""s breathing. Usually the person does not continually need the oxygen so the cylinder is regularly being opened and closed. Now the problem is the strength of the patient or caregiver to open the cylinder and then close it sufficiently tight so there is not an oxygen leak. Otherwise, the cylinder may be empty at a time when the patient needs oxygen.
Among the several objects of the present invention may be noted the provision of a multi-purpose wrench which can be used on a variety of gas cylinders and in a wide range of environments. In hospital and laboratory settings the wrench only is needed to open a valve with care being taken that the valve stem not be broken when the valve is opened, resulting in a leak. In home or similar settings, a wrench is needed to both open and close the cylinder. The wrench must be easy to use especially by those who are ill and not as capable of physical exertion as others might be. The multi-purpose wrench of the present invention provides this capability. The wrench has a handle with a ratchet on one end to which a socket attaches. The socket has a plurality of openings formed on opposite faces of the socket. One opening on each face corresponds in size and shape to a corresponding opening on the opposite face, and these respective pairs of openings allow the wrench to be used to both open and close a cylinder. A disc from which a plurality of pins extend fits onto a ratchet located adjacent the other end of the wrench. The pins engage various types of valve wheels employed with valves installed on larger type cylinders. The disc allows the wrench to turn the valve wheel in only one direction so to open the valve. Other features will be in part apparent and in part set forth hereinafter.